Harrison Bay Eagles Spider Visitor, Whtie-bellied Sea Eagles Day 49

The Harrison Bay Eagle parents were working in the nest again today.

They pose so nicely for the cam!

They picked their perches for the night.

I like it when they spend the night in the nest.

I got this quick video of a Spider Visitor doing a photo bomb (3:07). Watch it catch prey:

The White-bellied Sea Eagle chicks are growing like weeds. SE16 is in the back. She has a much larger head than her brother SE15.

SE15 was doing some wingercizing.

SE16 has a much bigger wing span.

Stick work will continue for a while.

Something did a fly-by, but I can't tell what it is... Any ideas? Was it trying to hit the chick? Neither chick seemed to react.

This last s'cap leads me to believe that it didn't fly directly over the nest, since it's in front of that tree trunk. What do you think?

Berry College Eagles Day 37&39, Orb Weaver Licking Its Fingers & Scratching Its Butt

It was a rainy day today at the Berry College nest. I found Dad feeding the chicks. Notice how nice and dry he is. I don't know where Dads hide out when it rains, but it never fails that they are nice and dry when they come to the nest. Here he is pulling hard at a prey item to try to tear off a piece.

And look at the difference. Mom is looking a bit bedraggled...

I found a video that I took in September and forgot to post. It's of an orb weaver doing something strange. It looks like its licking its fingers. I've never seen that before. Then it climbs onto the branch and scratches its butt. Here's a link. (3:57)

Berry College Day 19&21, Peacock Spiders, Birdcams, Plane Crash at Norfolk Botanical Garden

This post is for March 4, 2015. I forgot to hit the "publish" button last night...

You can see the thermal down that has come in. It's darker than the natal down.

The two chicks are moving out of the nest bowl and coming to the food.

Flapping

They both have nice sized crops. They are getting plenty to eat.

A family s'cap with Mom.

Here's a link to a video of Dad delivering this fish (3:05). (You can see the fish tail at the 3 o'clock position. Dad had already eaten the head.)

Another fish appeared in the nest when I wasn't looking. Not sure who brought it... (This one still has a head.)

Mom started eating. The babies weren't even interested. They are already full...

Here's a link to a video of Mom eating some nestover bones and one of the babies moving out of the nest bowl (4:50).

Check out these spiders. I don't care for spiders too much, but these are some beauties! Check out the video too...

Here's a site that lists (all?) of the birdcams. Leave a comment if you find something good so I can watch too!

A small plane crashed at the Norfolk Botanical Garden around 4:30AM (early this morning). There was very poor visibility due to fog. The plane was found in the Enchanted Forest part of the garden about three hours after the crash. It missed the runway at the (next door) Norfolk Airport by about 1.5 miles. There were 3 aboard, no survivors. The garden is closed until the investigation at the scene is completed and the plane is removed. The Norfolk Botanical Garden, for many years, was the happy home of the Norfolk Eagles. In the last few years, the city of Norfolk has harassed the eagles into leaving the garden because they felt the eagles posed a hazard to flight.